It's the second last day of the school holiday. My entire holiday was mainly spent sleeping, eating, playing squash, tennis, swimming etc with parents, sometimes with Jean. Hmm what else. Oh, homework, preparation for church activities, playing, shooping for violin and piano, violin practice, church, meetings.. December was quite relaxing cus my parents were at home most of the time. Mom doesnt have to work in the holiday cus since she is working at SBC (bible college), so she's on holiday too. Dad, frantically taking leave.
Yesterday's yesterday was spent mainly playing. Woke up around 10am and then went for a swim with my parents. Jean doesn't usually wake up till 1 or 2pm. Swam my usual 20+ laps because I only bother counting till 20, the rest of the time, I just swim back and forth with dad while waiting for mom to complete her swim. Relaxed a bit when everyone was done, then went up. Then we finally went out for high tea at lao bei jing when Jean woke up. Then, walked around and shopped before going home. Dad decided to take Jean and I out cycling. Mom cannot cycle and doesnt ever want to, so she went jogging. We cylcled around the thomson, amk, bishan area. When we reached yio chu kang road, I just realised it looked familiar (near jy's house). The we went cycling around lower pierce reservoire. Upper pierce is the challenging one with ups and downs. I mean, very up and very down. In fact, everywhere is filled with ups and downs. If you go up, you have to go down. And dad managed to queeze one of his life lessons into this. Work hard (ups) and you will be rewarded (downs). Jean and I nodded our heads in agreement. Then his physics brain suddenly activated. So a few seconds later, he added, "That's unless you have a motor...". We went to buy back dinner around Bishan North, then cycled home. And then I did violin practice at night. After that, went to play with Jean. She played piano, I did violin. It was quite fun just "jamming". We played till around midnight. But so far no complaints from neighbours yet. Maybe they understand it's the holidays now.
Yesterday, was another normal holi day. My parents went to salvation army to meet their new batch of Chinese students. I don't remember what I did. Oh I remember now. I remember I read a book. Tuesdays with Morrie. Since it was a present, I had to read it. Then finished up Musicophillia. And finished playing the whole career mode of Need for Speed Carbon in an hour. I think I am addicted to Car jack Streets (it's the grand theft auto 4 version for handphone). Earned about $70k already, but I the target is 1 million. I don't know what to do. Either I delete the game or I die next year cus it's played in real time. It's going to eat up a lot of my time.
Moving on, I shall test my memory. 2008, as far as I can remember:
Jan:
- start of school
- started my job in TF comm as logistics/publicity
- xjls passed away
Feb:
- CNY (ok I think I will ignore all holidays though they were something I looked forward to)
March:
Err... I really can't remember
- I think, my great grandmother pased away
- Oh, Polka
April:
Cannot..
May:
10: cousin shao en turned 1
11: my birthday
- nai2's birthday
- violining in SBC, when Moody Bible Institute choir arrived in Sg, had the worship thing. they had their choir and hand bell performance
June:
- holiday
- church retreat
- cca during holiday? I have no idea why I remembered that
- holiday trip wth family to Da Nang, Vietnam
July:
err... school started again
- violin exam
August:
- 08/08/08: cousin Ashlyn was born
- National day (oh ya, no holidays allowed, but nvm), aka church family day. forgot where we went, but it was fun
- Cantabile concert (strings)
- ms tan left
- Got to know ck terrorist and joycelyn, police
September:
- Ye2's birthday
- start of EOY
October:
- Jerome turned 4
- Continuation of EOY
- Boring post exam activities
November:
- Head start
- holiday trip with family to Tokyo
14, 15,17: uncle Edwin (dad's younger bro), Jean's and Dad's birhtday
29: Jensen turned 10 (which means I'm getting old)
December:
- Mom's birthday
- Still have cca
- Christmas thing at church
- Christmas dinner with family and extended
- grandparents, jeansen, jeome and their parents off to Hokaido for holiday
- Preparation for watchnight service later today
I noticed I start remembering more towards the late part of 2008. A sign of ageing maybe. Later today, watchnight service. Got to go do violin practice now. Have to be in church by 4.30pm for dry run. Timothy fellowship is in charge of the service this year. Jean and I in charge of TF ppt, countdown, prayer etc. The funny thing is, my whole family is working on ppts for the same event. Dad - Chinese ministry (students). Mom- Sunday School. Jean and I- TF.
The End for 2008. I don't think I'll have a lot of time to post when school starts again. I don't want the holiday to be over. Not because I want to post..
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Sunday, December 28, 2008
finale
Today, had church as usual. The only thing more unusual was that nai2, ye2, jensen, jerome, and their parents were not around. When they go on holidays, their maid is passed over to my other grandmother (mom's side) to take care of. Or maybe it's the other way round. So the maid, Dang, followed my grandmother to church on sat and sun. We met her today and took her out for lunch, by order of grandparents. Nai2 specially called me to remind me to remind dad about Sunday in case he forgot (you see the genetic trends...). Dad's sermon today during combined Sunday school was rather good for the kids. never heard them so quiet before. Mom and dad had lunch with their students (er, they and a few others mentor some Chinese students in Singapore on scholarship to study in the medical area, but of course the main objective is evangelistic). At first they wanted to have high tea with them but then it was pushed back to lunch. So we went to a restaurant, ate, then finished eating. After that, we decided to to go Gramercy to get my violin since now my parents were free in the afternoon, ya, like a family event. We brought Dang along cus we travelled to East, the Southwest.
I picked my violin, tried it out a bit and made the final decision. The violin came with a normal case, normal bow and rosin, which was not very normal. The rosin comes in a pouch with some weird name, and then wrapped in some cloth. I think it's the cake type, looks really appetising. And this properly ends my journey on a search for a new violin. Coming up next: Bow search. Dad was busy picking a beginner piano book for Jean to have fun with. They spent a long time picking the perfect book.
Then we went to drop Dang off at telok blangah, helped switch on the gas etc, then went home. I polished the violin a bit and bid farewell to my old one. I had to spend about 10 minutes putting rosin on the new bow before I could hear a more or less solid sound. Now, the storage at home is like a violin graveyard. There's a 1/8, 1/2 (no, i think it was exhumed cus we lent it to gracia), 3/4, 1 (the one I just buried). And not to mention, another 1 rotting in Jean's room. I wonder if this is a healthy, non-ageing, violin population.
Did violin practice at night. Halfway, I heard someone playing the piano. I got distracted and kept listening to it. As usual, I cannot multi task. So I ended up tripping over the notes in the concerto. Mozart should have jumped out of the Milky Way by now. Turns out dad was busy teaching Jean piano. Pre-piano lesson tutorial? I think he cannot teach, like me. He played the thing once for Jean, looked at her blank stare, then played again. Then he would get chased off the piano and Jean would enthusiastically play the thing. There would be many pauses and constipated sounds in between, but there was always a nice perfect cadence at the end where my mom and I could have a sigh of relief.
Ah that's all for now. Quite tired.
I picked my violin, tried it out a bit and made the final decision. The violin came with a normal case, normal bow and rosin, which was not very normal. The rosin comes in a pouch with some weird name, and then wrapped in some cloth. I think it's the cake type, looks really appetising. And this properly ends my journey on a search for a new violin. Coming up next: Bow search. Dad was busy picking a beginner piano book for Jean to have fun with. They spent a long time picking the perfect book.
Then we went to drop Dang off at telok blangah, helped switch on the gas etc, then went home. I polished the violin a bit and bid farewell to my old one. I had to spend about 10 minutes putting rosin on the new bow before I could hear a more or less solid sound. Now, the storage at home is like a violin graveyard. There's a 1/8, 1/2 (no, i think it was exhumed cus we lent it to gracia), 3/4, 1 (the one I just buried). And not to mention, another 1 rotting in Jean's room. I wonder if this is a healthy, non-ageing, violin population.
Did violin practice at night. Halfway, I heard someone playing the piano. I got distracted and kept listening to it. As usual, I cannot multi task. So I ended up tripping over the notes in the concerto. Mozart should have jumped out of the Milky Way by now. Turns out dad was busy teaching Jean piano. Pre-piano lesson tutorial? I think he cannot teach, like me. He played the thing once for Jean, looked at her blank stare, then played again. Then he would get chased off the piano and Jean would enthusiastically play the thing. There would be many pauses and constipated sounds in between, but there was always a nice perfect cadence at the end where my mom and I could have a sigh of relief.
Ah that's all for now. Quite tired.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Violin and Piano Adventure
Yesterday, Jean invited Eleanor over to our house to play. Well, not exactly our house. They went down to cycle at Bishan park, then played basketball. I think they started very early. When Jean came back to borrow my basketball, everyone in the house was still sleeping. And this is usually the best time to ask me to agree to anything. Jean chionged into my room and begged rather loudly for the ball, and I gave in within 2 seconds. I think they planned a festive season weight loss programme for themselves. A while later, the rest of the house woke up. Dad and I went to play squash, mom went to the gym. Only about 30 minutes into the game, I had to stop for a while to rest because I could feel the symptoms of thalasemia minor (cannot see properly, whole muscle gets very tense, feel like fainting). After a short break, I recuperated, and we continued our game. After that, dad and I went swimming. Mom met us for swimming a while later. My dad and I prefer sports like swimming to sports that require the head to be above the heart (tennis, squash, jogging, violin practice?) cus then there'll be enough blood flow to the head, won't feel the thalasemia minor. Btw, thalasemia minor, is a disease of the blood. It's genetic, passed down from my great grandmother, to grandfather, dad, me and jean. Once I was on a long bus ride and there was no seat, was sweating a lot of cold sweat all the way and jean was helping me panic.
After that, my parents and I went out. Jean and Eleanor went to watch a movie. We went to a violin maker's shop at river valley road. Went to try more violins. The guy laid out some violins and asked me to eliminate the ones I didn't like. I was left with 2 at the end. He later revealed good and bad news. I eleminated the cheaper ones. Well, the ones left were an 11k German and 12K french, 80 and 50-60 years old respectively. I liked those 2 equally. But then they don't come with the maker's certificates, and the extremely old one is anonymous. And the guy isn't going to touch up the violin if I do happen to buy it.
Then, we went to Yamaha at Thomson Plaza. These 2 weeks searching for piano, it has practically been like, yamaha kawai yamaha yamaha kawai yamaha kawai yamaha yamaha. It's really torturing for the brain, trying to listen for quality and worth. It's made worse when ur shopping for a violin at the same time. So many sounds to remember. We evenatually settled for a Yamaha U3 piano. Xiu lan ls (from church, also a piano tuner, so she shld have seen quite a lot of pianos, and worked in Yamaha) recommended it cus she says the inner parts are more refined, and after purchase service is better. She managed to get us to talk to her manager. That's also why my parents chose yamaha - cus she can help us get more value for the piano. It cost us 10k to get at least a decent piano which we all can agree to tolerate with for the next few years. Sigh.. So different from violin shopping. A 5k piano is like a 1k violin I think. So the exchange rate is about 10k piano = 2k violin.
Today, my parents and I went to play tennis at 7am. Jean was still lost in her dreamland. I don't know why I had the determination to wake up. In the afternoon, the same 3 of us went to look at violins at gramercy again. My teacher tried a Czech and Itlian violin asked me to go consider. The Czech one cost about the same as the piano. The Italian one was really superb. But the only problem was that it cost 23k, not quite a possible option. But I enjoyed playing it. It was quite nice and rich.
After that, went to Synwin cus it was just nearby. My original intention was to buy violin polish and cloth. But then my parents kept insisting that I try out Synwin's violins. I, on the other hand, was strongly objecting because my brain was not going to be able to hold on to more sounds. But then, objection overuled, I had to try about 5 more violins. They ranged from about 6-41k. The 41k was the best. But it's impossible. It's an Italian, made in 1967 (mom specially likes that year..), very even tone and it has that cutting edge, can penetrate. But that will be for me to dream about. The guy ( I think he's the synwin manager there cus he's the most smartly dressed) gave me a very long lecture on violins. My pea brain was like a bomb ticking and ready to explode. Information overload. My next best option was a 9.2k french/german i really cannot remember now. Made in 2007. Same as the gramercy Czech one. So we finally left Synwin, and I needed to recall wat the Czech souded like but my 1MB brain just couldnt remember anymore. So we had to go back to gramercy and I tested the upper E string for power. The one in Synwin declined in power on ascending on the E string. The Czech one sounded quite good to me, good penetration, edge, balance. So for now, I am settling for the Czech. Going to wait till ms kwok comes back to sg before confirming it. Now that the violin is more or less settled, there's still the bow to think about. Sigh...
After that, my parents and I went out. Jean and Eleanor went to watch a movie. We went to a violin maker's shop at river valley road. Went to try more violins. The guy laid out some violins and asked me to eliminate the ones I didn't like. I was left with 2 at the end. He later revealed good and bad news. I eleminated the cheaper ones. Well, the ones left were an 11k German and 12K french, 80 and 50-60 years old respectively. I liked those 2 equally. But then they don't come with the maker's certificates, and the extremely old one is anonymous. And the guy isn't going to touch up the violin if I do happen to buy it.
Then, we went to Yamaha at Thomson Plaza. These 2 weeks searching for piano, it has practically been like, yamaha kawai yamaha yamaha kawai yamaha kawai yamaha yamaha. It's really torturing for the brain, trying to listen for quality and worth. It's made worse when ur shopping for a violin at the same time. So many sounds to remember. We evenatually settled for a Yamaha U3 piano. Xiu lan ls (from church, also a piano tuner, so she shld have seen quite a lot of pianos, and worked in Yamaha) recommended it cus she says the inner parts are more refined, and after purchase service is better. She managed to get us to talk to her manager. That's also why my parents chose yamaha - cus she can help us get more value for the piano. It cost us 10k to get at least a decent piano which we all can agree to tolerate with for the next few years. Sigh.. So different from violin shopping. A 5k piano is like a 1k violin I think. So the exchange rate is about 10k piano = 2k violin.
Today, my parents and I went to play tennis at 7am. Jean was still lost in her dreamland. I don't know why I had the determination to wake up. In the afternoon, the same 3 of us went to look at violins at gramercy again. My teacher tried a Czech and Itlian violin asked me to go consider. The Czech one cost about the same as the piano. The Italian one was really superb. But the only problem was that it cost 23k, not quite a possible option. But I enjoyed playing it. It was quite nice and rich.
After that, went to Synwin cus it was just nearby. My original intention was to buy violin polish and cloth. But then my parents kept insisting that I try out Synwin's violins. I, on the other hand, was strongly objecting because my brain was not going to be able to hold on to more sounds. But then, objection overuled, I had to try about 5 more violins. They ranged from about 6-41k. The 41k was the best. But it's impossible. It's an Italian, made in 1967 (mom specially likes that year..), very even tone and it has that cutting edge, can penetrate. But that will be for me to dream about. The guy ( I think he's the synwin manager there cus he's the most smartly dressed) gave me a very long lecture on violins. My pea brain was like a bomb ticking and ready to explode. Information overload. My next best option was a 9.2k french/german i really cannot remember now. Made in 2007. Same as the gramercy Czech one. So we finally left Synwin, and I needed to recall wat the Czech souded like but my 1MB brain just couldnt remember anymore. So we had to go back to gramercy and I tested the upper E string for power. The one in Synwin declined in power on ascending on the E string. The Czech one sounded quite good to me, good penetration, edge, balance. So for now, I am settling for the Czech. Going to wait till ms kwok comes back to sg before confirming it. Now that the violin is more or less settled, there's still the bow to think about. Sigh...
Sunday, December 21, 2008
christmas
I am currently very sleepy but I'm going to have to at least keep my eyes open till late tonight. Going to nai2 and ye2's house, which would also equal Jensen, jerome and their parents house, for the annual Christmas related dinner. This year, it's earlier than usual cus their whole household will be going to Hokaido for a rather late holiday, so they won't be around during christmas. I think I have been in a rather early christmas mood this year. First, this dinner. Then, the church christmas programme was pushed back earlier, which resulted in receiving christmas cards/presents earlier. Weird. So now, just finished violin practice. Everyone is busy on the com except mom who's busy attacking the turkey.
Yesterday was a record breaking day. Woke up early to go to church for meeting. Mom and dad sent jean and I off to church (or else we'd end up having a morning jog) efore going for their usual jog. We had meeting from 9-4.25. Nearly 7.5 hours, including lunch time. I can't reveal much about the people in the comm (although it is alr quite obvious) or the positions yet. Planned out the whole of next year and got quite a lot of stuff done. There was a lot of funny incidents, eg. xiao jun's bread talk joke (refer to jean's blog). The power of hunger. When we finally ended, Jean and I walked/ran all the way home. The other chimes ppl in the comm didn't need to rush cus they lived further away and were more prepared (brought clothes etc). We took a shower and then thankfully, went to church by car.
We rehearsed a bit first with the choir, then chimes. Jean and I were busy bullying/teasing/assisting Jerome. He was here earlier cus he followed his dad. Louise (another girl jerome's age, whom everyone knows he likes, oh, they're 4 yrs old) had just arrived too. Jean asked him whether he wanted to go play with her instead of getting tortured by us. He just smiled and didn't want to budge (highly rare). Then she dragged him all the way to Louise and tried to start their conversation. In the end both of them seemed so shy like they never spent almost all their Sundays playing with each other. It was very funny watching them. For photos, again, refer to Jean-the-gene.
Then, the actualy thing started. I think the chimes part went pretty smoothly. As far as I know every note I played was correct and we were quite together. Chimes was in charge of the prelude (we played Trepak and Jingle Bell). Before that, we were all chionging make up upstairs (it's always the most dreadful part of this christmas programme, but we've been surviving with it for the past 14+ years i think) and by then it was already about 7.29pm before everyone was ready backstage. Then we quickly rushed a short and rather hilarious prayer before stampeding onto the stage. The little kids were amazing. Halfway throughout 2 of their items, the music (they were using a CD) suddenly died (I dunno why, must ask dad wat he was doing to the sound system up there) and they ended up singing accapella. But wats amazing is that they didn't get stunned and panic up there. They just went "business as usual" and continued watever they were doing. The rest of us watching them were panicing/praying for them.
Today, was and am dead tired. Stayed up till 2am this morning. Jean and I were working on a top secret project. And yes, according to her, thankfully it didn't have so many sides. Today was my class's student-teacher bonding day. My class went to macs and were treated. Good thing it was shi sheng ri today or I am certain I might have just fallen asleep during class.
Some things mom can consider for her Sunday school system:
1. Holiday the next day if Sat was the christmas thingy
2. shi sheng ri (teacher-students day for bonding) more often
Gtg now. I'll decide if I will continue later but I probably wouldnt be alive enough to.
Yesterday was a record breaking day. Woke up early to go to church for meeting. Mom and dad sent jean and I off to church (or else we'd end up having a morning jog) efore going for their usual jog. We had meeting from 9-4.25. Nearly 7.5 hours, including lunch time. I can't reveal much about the people in the comm (although it is alr quite obvious) or the positions yet. Planned out the whole of next year and got quite a lot of stuff done. There was a lot of funny incidents, eg. xiao jun's bread talk joke (refer to jean's blog). The power of hunger. When we finally ended, Jean and I walked/ran all the way home. The other chimes ppl in the comm didn't need to rush cus they lived further away and were more prepared (brought clothes etc). We took a shower and then thankfully, went to church by car.
We rehearsed a bit first with the choir, then chimes. Jean and I were busy bullying/teasing/assisting Jerome. He was here earlier cus he followed his dad. Louise (another girl jerome's age, whom everyone knows he likes, oh, they're 4 yrs old) had just arrived too. Jean asked him whether he wanted to go play with her instead of getting tortured by us. He just smiled and didn't want to budge (highly rare). Then she dragged him all the way to Louise and tried to start their conversation. In the end both of them seemed so shy like they never spent almost all their Sundays playing with each other. It was very funny watching them. For photos, again, refer to Jean-the-gene.
Then, the actualy thing started. I think the chimes part went pretty smoothly. As far as I know every note I played was correct and we were quite together. Chimes was in charge of the prelude (we played Trepak and Jingle Bell). Before that, we were all chionging make up upstairs (it's always the most dreadful part of this christmas programme, but we've been surviving with it for the past 14+ years i think) and by then it was already about 7.29pm before everyone was ready backstage. Then we quickly rushed a short and rather hilarious prayer before stampeding onto the stage. The little kids were amazing. Halfway throughout 2 of their items, the music (they were using a CD) suddenly died (I dunno why, must ask dad wat he was doing to the sound system up there) and they ended up singing accapella. But wats amazing is that they didn't get stunned and panic up there. They just went "business as usual" and continued watever they were doing. The rest of us watching them were panicing/praying for them.
Today, was and am dead tired. Stayed up till 2am this morning. Jean and I were working on a top secret project. And yes, according to her, thankfully it didn't have so many sides. Today was my class's student-teacher bonding day. My class went to macs and were treated. Good thing it was shi sheng ri today or I am certain I might have just fallen asleep during class.
Some things mom can consider for her Sunday school system:
1. Holiday the next day if Sat was the christmas thingy
2. shi sheng ri (teacher-students day for bonding) more often
Gtg now. I'll decide if I will continue later but I probably wouldnt be alive enough to.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Yesterday, I spent the morning sleeping and doing violin practice. I practiced on the 11k disciple violin. It sounds really nice but the neck is wider than the China one, so it's a bit harder to reach around, but still manageable. Till this morning, I still don't know which violin to choose. Though the violins differ in price by nearly 2 times, my parents say they will just get anything that is worth the value. And that makes my decision even more difficult because both have equal advantages and disadvantages.
China:
- Sounds alright
- Neck is less wide, easier to reach notes
- If I don't play the 11k before it, it sounds quite nice
- Set up by Sabo
Vs. (ck - table tennis)
Singapore:
- Sounds super nice
- Neck is wide but still manageable
- Good response
- Set up by Sabo's assistant, so I dunno if it's trustworthy
While practicing these few days, I find myself sympathizing with my neighbors more. After living in this home for about 4.5 years, no one has ever complained about the noise they receive for about 1 hour a day. And no one has ever rang our doorbell to ask us to practice at a certain time only. But the thing is, the house above mine has had new owners about 3 times already. For the first owner, I may be able to understand. The kids were all learning the same piece and so there was continuous Fur Elise throughout my living hours. Jean and I got fed up and decided to open our windows in our rooms and do violin practice. But then ours only lasts an hour. After that, we switch on the keyboard to the max volume and blast out Fur Elise Demo version until we can't stand the noise anymore. We stopped our nonsense after a while and they stopped too.
Went out for lunch with parents. Jean was out with some friends. Then they dropped me off at J8 for theory lesson with another jie ying. Jean came too. Learnt about modulations. It's quite tiring doing all that theory stuff. But then she's super funny. Jean started singing the stuff for the rehearsal when we were walking out and then I asked her to keep quiet but of course it never works. The suddenly jie ying said, "bu yao xia ren" (don't scare other people). I couldn't stop laughing for about 2 whole minutes. In the meantime, mom and dad were waiting so they went to ya kun kaya shop and drank tea. They complained they couldn't sleep last night.
Then after that, mom and dad picked us up to go to church for rehearsal. Actually it only starts at 7.30pm but Chimes decided to go earlier to practice. We reached church at around 5.30pm. While turning in, we saw a fire truck in front of us. It turned in and stopped opposite our church. There was this HDB block and a house on the second floor had smoke coming out. The firemen got off the truck in a hurry and rushed over. The owner wasn't at home so they had to climb up from a ladder to go into the kitchen. The fire was extinguished and the owner came back to look at the mess. The rest of us sat in front of church and watched. We have the best view actually. It was quite interesting. Seldom see firemen in action.
Rehearsal went quite alright. Xiu lan ls came to conduct. It was very hot inside the hall. We didn't use aircon so there was only natural wind or fans which we all stood under whenever we came offstage. Chimes went quite alright too, quite together, at least better than previous rehearsals. The only thing was that we were lacking manpower cus some were away. I think everything is more or less in one piece, ready to go for sat. Jerome was very funny today. He kept trying to pull up his pants cus they were to loose for him. So some of his actions were affected and the rest of us watching were busy laughing at the poor guy. At least we have all already passed the age when we were one of those little children singing and dancing on stage. And come to think of it, chimes is an ageing population. We started when we were around P1-P4 and we are more or less the same people sec2-around 1st year jc/poly age.
Ended up reaching home at 11.30pm cus there were 2 run throughs. I was so thirsty I gulped down the whole bottle of water yuxin's dad gave me in one shot. All I needed next was a shower, a fan and some sleep.
Violin lesson later. Hijacking jy's house tmr.
China:
- Sounds alright
- Neck is less wide, easier to reach notes
- If I don't play the 11k before it, it sounds quite nice
- Set up by Sabo
Vs. (ck - table tennis)
Singapore:
- Sounds super nice
- Neck is wide but still manageable
- Good response
- Set up by Sabo's assistant, so I dunno if it's trustworthy
While practicing these few days, I find myself sympathizing with my neighbors more. After living in this home for about 4.5 years, no one has ever complained about the noise they receive for about 1 hour a day. And no one has ever rang our doorbell to ask us to practice at a certain time only. But the thing is, the house above mine has had new owners about 3 times already. For the first owner, I may be able to understand. The kids were all learning the same piece and so there was continuous Fur Elise throughout my living hours. Jean and I got fed up and decided to open our windows in our rooms and do violin practice. But then ours only lasts an hour. After that, we switch on the keyboard to the max volume and blast out Fur Elise Demo version until we can't stand the noise anymore. We stopped our nonsense after a while and they stopped too.
Went out for lunch with parents. Jean was out with some friends. Then they dropped me off at J8 for theory lesson with another jie ying. Jean came too. Learnt about modulations. It's quite tiring doing all that theory stuff. But then she's super funny. Jean started singing the stuff for the rehearsal when we were walking out and then I asked her to keep quiet but of course it never works. The suddenly jie ying said, "bu yao xia ren" (don't scare other people). I couldn't stop laughing for about 2 whole minutes. In the meantime, mom and dad were waiting so they went to ya kun kaya shop and drank tea. They complained they couldn't sleep last night.
Then after that, mom and dad picked us up to go to church for rehearsal. Actually it only starts at 7.30pm but Chimes decided to go earlier to practice. We reached church at around 5.30pm. While turning in, we saw a fire truck in front of us. It turned in and stopped opposite our church. There was this HDB block and a house on the second floor had smoke coming out. The firemen got off the truck in a hurry and rushed over. The owner wasn't at home so they had to climb up from a ladder to go into the kitchen. The fire was extinguished and the owner came back to look at the mess. The rest of us sat in front of church and watched. We have the best view actually. It was quite interesting. Seldom see firemen in action.
Rehearsal went quite alright. Xiu lan ls came to conduct. It was very hot inside the hall. We didn't use aircon so there was only natural wind or fans which we all stood under whenever we came offstage. Chimes went quite alright too, quite together, at least better than previous rehearsals. The only thing was that we were lacking manpower cus some were away. I think everything is more or less in one piece, ready to go for sat. Jerome was very funny today. He kept trying to pull up his pants cus they were to loose for him. So some of his actions were affected and the rest of us watching were busy laughing at the poor guy. At least we have all already passed the age when we were one of those little children singing and dancing on stage. And come to think of it, chimes is an ageing population. We started when we were around P1-P4 and we are more or less the same people sec2-around 1st year jc/poly age.
Ended up reaching home at 11.30pm cus there were 2 run throughs. I was so thirsty I gulped down the whole bottle of water yuxin's dad gave me in one shot. All I needed next was a shower, a fan and some sleep.
Violin lesson later. Hijacking jy's house tmr.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Sounds
Today, my parents and I went down to Sabo's shop. I met ck there cus she went to go pick up her bow. I went there to go test out violins. The violins are all quite nice, one was slightly problematic while the rest were quite well behaved. I had to eliminate from about 7 violins. There was ck around to help me. We have quite similar taste I think. The 20k violin is out of the question. My parents say it's too expensive and considering that there 2 people in the house need a new instrument each (piano + vioin), as well as the lessons that come with it. In the end, I eliminated the rest and was left with 2 violins. One China one and another one made by Sabo's assistant (disciple) in Singapore. The prices are about twice each other. The Singapore one has a really nice sound and what I consider a louder and more open version of the Cheena one. The Cheena one will give my ears a few more years to live and it also sounds not bad.
Sabo let me take home the 2 violins to try further and ask Ms Kwok for opinions. They lent me this case that can fit 2 violins. Quite cool. But then it's quite heavy. Ok, maybe not that heavy compared to ck's 8kg giant she lugged around to Sabo's shop. 60% of my vote goes to the Cheena one. I don't know if I can trust Sabo's disciple's violin so I'll ask my teacher for opinions. But it really sounds quite good.
After that, my parents and I went to Thomson Plaza to look at the Yamaha pianos. So far most people we asked support Yamaha more. But dad and I seem to think Yamaha pianos sound dead. The only good sounding and nice touch one is the Yamaha that imitates the grand piano's functions. German pianos have a nice warm tone but the precision is not as good as Yamaha's, as well as the warranty period etc. Now my parents are deciding between Kawai and Yamaha. I support the Kawai because it sounds nice. but whether it's inner parts are precise and will last is another thing. My parents gave up on German pianos cus it was out of the budget. I think they plan to spend around 10K on us each. I think it's reasonable enough, considering they have long term lessons to pay for. I will just aim to work and earn money to get a 50k violin. That means 50 years later.
After Thomson Plaza, we went to Parkway to look at Kawai pianos. Out of my family, dad's the only one who can play the piano reasonably well. So we let him just do the playing and we throw in comments when neccessary. It's really a mystry how he can still play. He never touches our lousy keyboard at home and manags to play for church. I am impressed. If I don't touch the violin for a week, I lose some touch already. After 3 consecutive days of listening to pianos and violins (today), my ears are really dead tired and my brain is beginning to hate music.
I practiced using the Cheena violin at night. It sounded good and the response was quite fast. I found it much easier to play. But the only thing that's worrying me is, I left my phone on my desk 2m away from where I stand to practice, and I couldn't hear my phone ring at all. I nearly got scared to death when I saw I had a missed call. This is bad. Right now, everything around me seems a little quieter than usual, like there's this vacuum thats sucking out the noise. Oh and of course my high pitched sound in my ear after practice is still there (tinnitus). I think it's getting worse but I'm getting used to it at the same time, which is scary.
Theory and full dress rehearsal tomorrow. Another long day ahead.
Sabo let me take home the 2 violins to try further and ask Ms Kwok for opinions. They lent me this case that can fit 2 violins. Quite cool. But then it's quite heavy. Ok, maybe not that heavy compared to ck's 8kg giant she lugged around to Sabo's shop. 60% of my vote goes to the Cheena one. I don't know if I can trust Sabo's disciple's violin so I'll ask my teacher for opinions. But it really sounds quite good.
After that, my parents and I went to Thomson Plaza to look at the Yamaha pianos. So far most people we asked support Yamaha more. But dad and I seem to think Yamaha pianos sound dead. The only good sounding and nice touch one is the Yamaha that imitates the grand piano's functions. German pianos have a nice warm tone but the precision is not as good as Yamaha's, as well as the warranty period etc. Now my parents are deciding between Kawai and Yamaha. I support the Kawai because it sounds nice. but whether it's inner parts are precise and will last is another thing. My parents gave up on German pianos cus it was out of the budget. I think they plan to spend around 10K on us each. I think it's reasonable enough, considering they have long term lessons to pay for. I will just aim to work and earn money to get a 50k violin. That means 50 years later.
After Thomson Plaza, we went to Parkway to look at Kawai pianos. Out of my family, dad's the only one who can play the piano reasonably well. So we let him just do the playing and we throw in comments when neccessary. It's really a mystry how he can still play. He never touches our lousy keyboard at home and manags to play for church. I am impressed. If I don't touch the violin for a week, I lose some touch already. After 3 consecutive days of listening to pianos and violins (today), my ears are really dead tired and my brain is beginning to hate music.
I practiced using the Cheena violin at night. It sounded good and the response was quite fast. I found it much easier to play. But the only thing that's worrying me is, I left my phone on my desk 2m away from where I stand to practice, and I couldn't hear my phone ring at all. I nearly got scared to death when I saw I had a missed call. This is bad. Right now, everything around me seems a little quieter than usual, like there's this vacuum thats sucking out the noise. Oh and of course my high pitched sound in my ear after practice is still there (tinnitus). I think it's getting worse but I'm getting used to it at the same time, which is scary.
Theory and full dress rehearsal tomorrow. Another long day ahead.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
boring blah
Thursday:
The bulk of the day was spent having a major, annual kitchen clean up in the afternoon. Proudly organised by mom, dutifully executed by Jean and I. We spent almost 3 hours scrubbing the floor and cleaning the wall. The wall can be cleaned cus it's the tile type. It was quite dusty and mom would have screamed if she saw the amount of dust we picked up. Her cloth changed from a light grey to spots of dark grey.
We used the hose from the yard toilet to spray the water in the kitchen. But the hose is quite short so only part of the kitchen can be reached. Apart from that, we had obstacles such as the fridge and the cupboard doors to avoid (cus it's partially fake wood, so we cant wet it too much). I had to keep jumping up and down to reach the top of the wall. I realised that as the years go by, I'm able to reach more and more parts of the kitchen wall.
Then while I was busy cleaning the wall, jean was just done scrubbing the section of floor and was preparing to wash away the soap by splashing a pail of water. Then she suddenly said, "wave coming". I didn't have much time to react but managed to dodge enough to get my pants all wet. Jean should have said something like tsunami. At the end of 3 hours, I think the kitchen was cleaner much cleaner than us.
Then in the evening, Jean went to meet her new piano teacher. Her first lesson is next year. My mom and her were given a tutorial on how to choose a piano. I think we'll be going for a Yamaha or Kawaii one, but not a junior type cus it will die after grade 5. The piano teacher didn't really seem to support steinway (not sure, stein-something) and sons because the one she had spoilt fast. The keys were like popping up or down. The teacher is very structured. It's pay by month, regardless of whether you miss the lesson or not. That's a great difference compared to violin, where just pay as you go. Well, I suppose it's because she's a full time piano teacher, so cannot afford to entertain "cannot make it" statements. My violin teacher and I take turns saying we're not free, have something in school/have a concert or recording etc. So maybe that's the bright side of a full time performing teacher.
Friday:
Today, there was sectionals. The bassists and cellists called off their sectional. I had a hard time calling practically the whole ensemble. And not forgetting that I had to retrace my steps when it was revealed that some sectionals were called off. Only 4 people people came today, not including joycelyn, ck and me. The viola section is getting really powerful. I think by SYF, they'll overtake violin 2 standard. But it's really quite a happy occasion when you hear something nice coming out of the instruments. There's suddenly a sense of hope. Well, from the point of view of a section leader..
I spent part of the afternoon rehearsing worship with Jean for tomorrow. Jean is the one playing the piano, of course. I can't even manage twinkle twinkle little star properly. If only a violin were more worship user-friendly, like a piano or guitar. A hypothesis, it may not be accurate: people with less formal music training and extreme formal music training (yes, an ax2 + bx + c curve again) are able to play for congregation better, since it mostly involves improvising on chords (oh no why does this seem like baroque figured bass). There may be less technical skill required but there's the special sense of freedom and creativity, which makes what popular songs today sound like.
Oh wow. jy is online.
Then for the other part of the afternoon, I did violin practice. I got my first finger cut while practicing the cadenza. There's the activate-all-the-fingers-you-have string crossing thing at the last 3 lines. Cus the first finger usually has to press quite hard on the G-string (the fattest one) for the bass note, so I had to reach out for the notes. I used the not-so-tip of my finger to press and cus that part wasn't hardened that much yet (string players usually have hard left finger tips), the skin gave way and so it got cut. I only realised a while after practice cus I was wondering why my finger felt like something was biting it. Now I really hesitate doing violin practice tomorrow.
The bulk of the day was spent having a major, annual kitchen clean up in the afternoon. Proudly organised by mom, dutifully executed by Jean and I. We spent almost 3 hours scrubbing the floor and cleaning the wall. The wall can be cleaned cus it's the tile type. It was quite dusty and mom would have screamed if she saw the amount of dust we picked up. Her cloth changed from a light grey to spots of dark grey.
We used the hose from the yard toilet to spray the water in the kitchen. But the hose is quite short so only part of the kitchen can be reached. Apart from that, we had obstacles such as the fridge and the cupboard doors to avoid (cus it's partially fake wood, so we cant wet it too much). I had to keep jumping up and down to reach the top of the wall. I realised that as the years go by, I'm able to reach more and more parts of the kitchen wall.
Then while I was busy cleaning the wall, jean was just done scrubbing the section of floor and was preparing to wash away the soap by splashing a pail of water. Then she suddenly said, "wave coming". I didn't have much time to react but managed to dodge enough to get my pants all wet. Jean should have said something like tsunami. At the end of 3 hours, I think the kitchen was cleaner much cleaner than us.
Then in the evening, Jean went to meet her new piano teacher. Her first lesson is next year. My mom and her were given a tutorial on how to choose a piano. I think we'll be going for a Yamaha or Kawaii one, but not a junior type cus it will die after grade 5. The piano teacher didn't really seem to support steinway (not sure, stein-something) and sons because the one she had spoilt fast. The keys were like popping up or down. The teacher is very structured. It's pay by month, regardless of whether you miss the lesson or not. That's a great difference compared to violin, where just pay as you go. Well, I suppose it's because she's a full time piano teacher, so cannot afford to entertain "cannot make it" statements. My violin teacher and I take turns saying we're not free, have something in school/have a concert or recording etc. So maybe that's the bright side of a full time performing teacher.
Friday:
Today, there was sectionals. The bassists and cellists called off their sectional. I had a hard time calling practically the whole ensemble. And not forgetting that I had to retrace my steps when it was revealed that some sectionals were called off. Only 4 people people came today, not including joycelyn, ck and me. The viola section is getting really powerful. I think by SYF, they'll overtake violin 2 standard. But it's really quite a happy occasion when you hear something nice coming out of the instruments. There's suddenly a sense of hope. Well, from the point of view of a section leader..
I spent part of the afternoon rehearsing worship with Jean for tomorrow. Jean is the one playing the piano, of course. I can't even manage twinkle twinkle little star properly. If only a violin were more worship user-friendly, like a piano or guitar. A hypothesis, it may not be accurate: people with less formal music training and extreme formal music training (yes, an ax2 + bx + c curve again) are able to play for congregation better, since it mostly involves improvising on chords (oh no why does this seem like baroque figured bass). There may be less technical skill required but there's the special sense of freedom and creativity, which makes what popular songs today sound like.
Oh wow. jy is online.
Then for the other part of the afternoon, I did violin practice. I got my first finger cut while practicing the cadenza. There's the activate-all-the-fingers-you-have string crossing thing at the last 3 lines. Cus the first finger usually has to press quite hard on the G-string (the fattest one) for the bass note, so I had to reach out for the notes. I used the not-so-tip of my finger to press and cus that part wasn't hardened that much yet (string players usually have hard left finger tips), the skin gave way and so it got cut. I only realised a while after practice cus I was wondering why my finger felt like something was biting it. Now I really hesitate doing violin practice tomorrow.
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Bored and Snail
My parents went to IKEA and bought some stuff for home improvements. There was this thing that prevents cupboard doors from slamming. Dad assembled it and mom went to test it. After she walked out, she was smiling to herself and complimenting on the installation etc. Then went around asking Jean and I if we banged her cupboards already. I think I nearly died of shock at her rare invitation to slam her cupboards.
Most of my day is spent at home. Jean is free from NEmation. But she went out today to do a recording with her band at Methodist Music something. Mom is at home. Dad is at work as usual. My day revolves around sleeping, procrastinating about homework, eating, computer with fellow bored people, violin practice and watching a movie for the past 2 nights. We went to rent some DVDs after dinner with nai2 and ye2. There's enough to last till tonight, after which I think we'll have to do encore. Last night, we watched August Rush. It's very very very nice. About this music prodigy. Ok I shall not spoil it for those who haven't watched. It's cool how he just bangs the guitar and starts making nice music instantly. And CK is blaming me for getting her suddenly have an urge to watch it again. But anyway, it's nice. Worth re-watching.
No rehearsal tonight. Violin lesson tomorrow. I think I better spend all the time I need on violin practice this holiday before school starts again next year.
Introducing my snail:
:=@
Monday, December 08, 2008
bbllaahh part I
Haven't been able to post because I've been too tired to recall stuff to post. But since jy and I have an agreement to post, I shall complete my share. Now, As far as I can remember from this week...
I think, last Sunday, went to a French luthier's (violin/string instru maker) shop to test out some of the violins. The violins there are really good. All have a nice sound, and the set up is very very perfect. We were aiming around the 5-6K range. Then the luthier, his name is Sabo, did something I regret, He listened to me play and then recommended a 20K one. For the whole week, I couldn't, and still can't, get my mind off it. The sound is really loud and nice, brilliant, fantastic, awesome, and loud, nice, brilliant sound... I could go on if I could find enough vocabulary. Anyway, After that, I set my mind on either a high end China 6.5 that sounds quite good, or a 5.5 Euro that sounds alright as well, or if my parents don't mind, the super one.
Tuesday, got myself a finger un-extension/detension/hole. There was rehearsal at church and while trying to close a stand, I accidentally pushed too hard and it slide up my thumb. It shred off a bit of the flesh between my nail and the rest of the thumb, and bled quite a bit. I can't believe my first reaction was, oh no, how am I going to do violin practice? Of all reactions.. sigh. Then after that, had a problem counting the number of sponges. Sent Samuel on a hunt for a missing sponge when we found it still in 3A.
Wenesday, had violin lesson. Then after that, my mom made a very observant comment on Jean's and my violin playing.
Jean - Have a lot of expression, lack precision.
Me - Have precision, no expression.
Friday, sectionals, one on one with wen hsi. I think she looked more tortured than me. I made both of us stand for about 1.5 hours straight. And, it was quite hot in the building. Viola score (rutter) is quite challenging, especially when there's no E string to use. Had to climb all over the fingerboard to help Su Young with fingering. Then, played a while with the seniors.
Saturday, went to Gramercy to check out violins. Around 8.9 range for the Euro ones. I tried an Italian luthier's violin and another one his daughter made. The sound is quite good, but it was a bit hard to play. I think it's the bridge spacing that I'm not used to. But Italian sound is.. wow. The problem - it's 20 and 30K. But compared to Sabo's 20K, I don't really favour the Italian. The sound is really much nicer cus it's set up very well.
I think, last Sunday, went to a French luthier's (violin/string instru maker) shop to test out some of the violins. The violins there are really good. All have a nice sound, and the set up is very very perfect. We were aiming around the 5-6K range. Then the luthier, his name is Sabo, did something I regret, He listened to me play and then recommended a 20K one. For the whole week, I couldn't, and still can't, get my mind off it. The sound is really loud and nice, brilliant, fantastic, awesome, and loud, nice, brilliant sound... I could go on if I could find enough vocabulary. Anyway, After that, I set my mind on either a high end China 6.5 that sounds quite good, or a 5.5 Euro that sounds alright as well, or if my parents don't mind, the super one.
Tuesday, got myself a finger un-extension/detension/hole. There was rehearsal at church and while trying to close a stand, I accidentally pushed too hard and it slide up my thumb. It shred off a bit of the flesh between my nail and the rest of the thumb, and bled quite a bit. I can't believe my first reaction was, oh no, how am I going to do violin practice? Of all reactions.. sigh. Then after that, had a problem counting the number of sponges. Sent Samuel on a hunt for a missing sponge when we found it still in 3A.
Wenesday, had violin lesson. Then after that, my mom made a very observant comment on Jean's and my violin playing.
Jean - Have a lot of expression, lack precision.
Me - Have precision, no expression.
Friday, sectionals, one on one with wen hsi. I think she looked more tortured than me. I made both of us stand for about 1.5 hours straight. And, it was quite hot in the building. Viola score (rutter) is quite challenging, especially when there's no E string to use. Had to climb all over the fingerboard to help Su Young with fingering. Then, played a while with the seniors.
Saturday, went to Gramercy to check out violins. Around 8.9 range for the Euro ones. I tried an Italian luthier's violin and another one his daughter made. The sound is quite good, but it was a bit hard to play. I think it's the bridge spacing that I'm not used to. But Italian sound is.. wow. The problem - it's 20 and 30K. But compared to Sabo's 20K, I don't really favour the Italian. The sound is really much nicer cus it's set up very well.
bbllaahh part II
After that, went to Pungol Park for TF jiao you. Jean and I reached early, so we walked around the park (it's quite small) and sat at a shelter to read and wait because it was drizzling. Eventually, the rain stopped and others arrived. Around 20+ people came cus I think quite a few were on holiday. We sang some songs, played a few quite interesting games and had some free time. Some others decided to play daiti. Andrew, Rui Quan, Jean and I went to the back of the BBQ pit place. There was an empty field there. We played "monkey" - the one where 2 ppl have to jump around to get the ball, an all time childhood favourite. We got tired and went to the middle of the field where there was a pile of small rocks. So we picked them up and started seeing who could throw the furthest. Here's how the game goes. Each take turns throwing their stone, and see who reaches the end of the field first. The winners, jean and rq. Andrew and I were lagging behind. After that bit of exercise, we went back to the pit to rest. Then, a while later, it started suddenly raining really heavily. The BBQ fire was already half way started so zhi chun and some others guarded the fire with an umbrella. The rest of us grabbed everything we could find and chionged to the nearest shelter. We were already soaking wet and the shelter didn't help cus there were some other ppl inside with not much space left. So we decided to make a move for a shelter a few hundred meters further down. Thankfully, it was emptier. Everyone looked like they just got out from a shower without drying themselves. The rain eventually stopped and we headed back. The fire was still alive, as well as the ppl there. Zhi chun is a good cook. I think if it weren't for his determination to cook, we'd have a lot of leftovers. We played with the lighter and tried touching the fire etc. I did that for the first time. At first, I was quite sure the only reason why rq could touch the flame was cus his skin was special. But then, after some persuassion, I managed to get the hang of it. Playing with fire is fun. jean was busy torturing yu xin with water that melted from the ice used to keep the sparkling juice cold. She started a melting plant and used the water to give me and yu xin some cold sprinkles, as well as an ice foot wash for yx. (jean and I were one of the few wearing shoes and socks). Then suddenly, she started stuffing ice down our backs. Yu xin was making crow-like sounds, which jean recorded to analyse to see if she was a new species.
The heavy rain and all the fun and problems after that made it was one of the most memorable jiao yous. Jean and I reached home at around 11pm. I decided to wash my shoes because I couldn't take the sight of it. Ended up sleeping at around 1am.
Sunday, church. Yu xin was sitting beside me and we were almost dozing off during sunday school. Others looked quite dead in the morning. I remained sleepy till this morning.
Now, jie ying, if you read this, go post. Remember our agreement? If I didn't forget, you couldn't have.. i hope..
The heavy rain and all the fun and problems after that made it was one of the most memorable jiao yous. Jean and I reached home at around 11pm. I decided to wash my shoes because I couldn't take the sight of it. Ended up sleeping at around 1am.
Sunday, church. Yu xin was sitting beside me and we were almost dozing off during sunday school. Others looked quite dead in the morning. I remained sleepy till this morning.
Now, jie ying, if you read this, go post. Remember our agreement? If I didn't forget, you couldn't have.. i hope..
Thursday, November 27, 2008
halbblah
Today, woke up at around 9am and did the usual stuff, then finished up the last AM paper. Lunch to day was mom's weirdly invented salad of mango cheese and egg. If not for the extra toppings, I think I would have taken an abnormally long time to eat it up. Then, I edited the Gypsy Rondo score that Jie Ying sent. She's a perfect perfectionist. The score was so straight. She must have used a vernier calipers or something. Managed to make it about 1.5-2 times larger. I printed the stuff out and 13 of 21 tries were unsuccessful. The printer printed out an error message for me. I felt so guilty of wasting paper. Since I used up both sides (try my luck) for those failed missions, I couldn't put it back in the paper tray for re printing. In the end, stuffed it in the study room cupboard and just hoped I'd remember (highly unlikely) to use it when I need it.
Then, went swimming again, same routine. Nose improved even more and now I have been tissue-free for about 24 hours. Mom has been telling me to go to the gym or park to jog with her but I don't really like going to the gym (gym - >18yo need parental accompaniment) because it's just like violin practice, except worse. Perspire so much and stare at the same spot for many, many seconds. Whereas for swimming, you get to at least see some change of scenery (like a new square tile per second, though I think by now, I know almost every tile personally). As for the park, I always happen to be lagging behind. This was especially scary when I jogged more often in the morning (afternoon session school) when I was much younger. Mom would be all the way in front and I'd start panicking when I lost sight of her, so didn't dare to stop running no matter how tired I was. I'd only feel more relaxed on weekends when dad and Jean also came along. (Because dad doesn't, or purposely doesn't have so much speed and stamina, and Jean will just end up walking behind)
Then, did violin practice. I must have broken a personal record timing today. My fingers didn't feel correct and the sound sounded.. terrible. I spent some time while playing, thinking of whether I could just carry out euthanasia (involuntary (relative decides), of course) on my violin. I'm not sure if my violin was thinking the same either, just the voluntary form. Practically the whole practice was spent fretting over my left wrist, whether it was bent wrongly or not. I realised that sometimes, my wrist does not bend correctly when I'm using my fourth finger or 3.4 double stops (discovered during violin lesson yesterday). The bad thing is that I can only detect wrong movement by feeling. If I want the visual form, I have to bend backwards, behind the violin to look at my wrist. That's tedious. I don't know if I've been trying to change correctly, but now my left thumb is aching.
Mom and dad went to Orchard road again. This time, at night. They wanted to look at the Christmas lighting blah blah blah, shop and walk. They bought some stuff but forgot to buy a present for Jensen's birthday this Saturday. Arhh. Poor guy. I think my grandparents are going to drag Jensen, Jerome, Jean and I there when the CCIS (a christian event at Orchard road. Some groups perform outside Pragon, Ngee Ann City etc as an evangelistic activity. Has been around for quite a few years already) thing is up again (around +/- 21 Dec).
It's late. Going to sleep. Tutti tomorrow, then have to go meet another jie ying (from church. I already know 3 JYs) and xwls at Christofori tmr to find out more about the mysterious christmas trio.
Then, went swimming again, same routine. Nose improved even more and now I have been tissue-free for about 24 hours. Mom has been telling me to go to the gym or park to jog with her but I don't really like going to the gym (gym - >18yo need parental accompaniment) because it's just like violin practice, except worse. Perspire so much and stare at the same spot for many, many seconds. Whereas for swimming, you get to at least see some change of scenery (like a new square tile per second, though I think by now, I know almost every tile personally). As for the park, I always happen to be lagging behind. This was especially scary when I jogged more often in the morning (afternoon session school) when I was much younger. Mom would be all the way in front and I'd start panicking when I lost sight of her, so didn't dare to stop running no matter how tired I was. I'd only feel more relaxed on weekends when dad and Jean also came along. (Because dad doesn't, or purposely doesn't have so much speed and stamina, and Jean will just end up walking behind)
Then, did violin practice. I must have broken a personal record timing today. My fingers didn't feel correct and the sound sounded.. terrible. I spent some time while playing, thinking of whether I could just carry out euthanasia (involuntary (relative decides), of course) on my violin. I'm not sure if my violin was thinking the same either, just the voluntary form. Practically the whole practice was spent fretting over my left wrist, whether it was bent wrongly or not. I realised that sometimes, my wrist does not bend correctly when I'm using my fourth finger or 3.4 double stops (discovered during violin lesson yesterday). The bad thing is that I can only detect wrong movement by feeling. If I want the visual form, I have to bend backwards, behind the violin to look at my wrist. That's tedious. I don't know if I've been trying to change correctly, but now my left thumb is aching.
Mom and dad went to Orchard road again. This time, at night. They wanted to look at the Christmas lighting blah blah blah, shop and walk. They bought some stuff but forgot to buy a present for Jensen's birthday this Saturday. Arhh. Poor guy. I think my grandparents are going to drag Jensen, Jerome, Jean and I there when the CCIS (a christian event at Orchard road. Some groups perform outside Pragon, Ngee Ann City etc as an evangelistic activity. Has been around for quite a few years already) thing is up again (around +/- 21 Dec).
It's late. Going to sleep. Tutti tomorrow, then have to go meet another jie ying (from church. I already know 3 JYs) and xwls at Christofori tmr to find out more about the mysterious christmas trio.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
I've been suffering from something lately. I went down to swim on Friday afternoon, 20 laps, 20 mins. After I got back upstairs to my house, I started sneezing and my nose kept running (no, it didn't run away.. but I don't know how else to explain this phenomenon). My nose was in this state for the following days. Yesterday (Tuesday), I thought of something. I decided to go for a swim again, same routine, but to reverse the effect. See, this is what a flu can do to a poor human bean's brain. Sadly, it didn't work. But the human bean never gives up. I started digging up flu medicine from the kitchen drawer and placed it on the table, ready to eat it right after dinner. But I think my germ got scared and decided to behave itself for the whole night. But of course, as I'm typing this, my germ seems to have grown some sense overnight so there's a tissue almost permenantly attached to my nose.
The interesting is that these days, I'm finding it very hard to keep violin practice to 1 hour (my constant quota for the past 7 years, but improved with less cheating eg. complaining I need a break (10 mins) every half an hour).
1. 15 mins -- Scales, arpeggios etc and finger/bowing exercises
2. 10 mins -- 2 Studies (1 prepared, 1 practice for quick study)
3. 10 mins -- School pieces
4. 10 mins -- Gypsy Rondo
5. 10 mins -- Bach Serabande
6. 40-45 mins -- 3 "bigger" works
Total = About 1h 40mins
Since now's still the holidays and I have nothing much better to do, such extravagent spending of time every day is still acceptable. But how am I going to keep everything to 1 hour next year? 1 hour would just be playing everything I need to practice once through.. which isn't really called practice then. One solution: alternate between 1,2,3,4,5, 6(1) and 1, 2, 6(2). Sigh..
Yesterday, there was rehearsal in church at night. First rehearsal is always the most slack of all. Not everyone knows what to do or what programme is after the other (though I got a shock when I glanced at the programme sheet. "violin duet -- lynn & jean".. don't even know what we're supposed to be playing). Didn't need to play chimes because only me, Rebecca, Jasmine, Samuel and Rui Quan turned up, unless each of us ran around the table and juggled more than 6 chimes each. So we just had to help choir and chat among ourselves. It was quite interesting. Recounting our holidays (for those who already went) and laughing about funny incidents.
Jean has been out early in the morning and back at around 8pm since we came back from our holiday. N.E.mation takes up so much time. They all flock to NTU where they trap themselves in a room with different "tents" assigned to their group. Inside their tents, they each sit around their tablet/desktop pc and do sketches of their animation/chat online/play/whatever. They're each given their own tablet or desktop thing with the stuff for drawing on the screen, and they're the administrator of the com, so they can download whatever they want. Jean says she drew over 1000 things already (I don't know what - it's a top secret). Apart from the high tech gadgets and meals, I think it's comparable to an air conditioned jail. Anyway, go vote http://www.nemation.sg/perspectives.aspx
byebyebye have violin lesson later
The interesting is that these days, I'm finding it very hard to keep violin practice to 1 hour (my constant quota for the past 7 years, but improved with less cheating eg. complaining I need a break (10 mins) every half an hour).
1. 15 mins -- Scales, arpeggios etc and finger/bowing exercises
2. 10 mins -- 2 Studies (1 prepared, 1 practice for quick study)
3. 10 mins -- School pieces
4. 10 mins -- Gypsy Rondo
5. 10 mins -- Bach Serabande
6. 40-45 mins -- 3 "bigger" works
Total = About 1h 40mins
Since now's still the holidays and I have nothing much better to do, such extravagent spending of time every day is still acceptable. But how am I going to keep everything to 1 hour next year? 1 hour would just be playing everything I need to practice once through.. which isn't really called practice then. One solution: alternate between 1,2,3,4,5, 6(1) and 1, 2, 6(2). Sigh..
Yesterday, there was rehearsal in church at night. First rehearsal is always the most slack of all. Not everyone knows what to do or what programme is after the other (though I got a shock when I glanced at the programme sheet. "violin duet -- lynn & jean".. don't even know what we're supposed to be playing). Didn't need to play chimes because only me, Rebecca, Jasmine, Samuel and Rui Quan turned up, unless each of us ran around the table and juggled more than 6 chimes each. So we just had to help choir and chat among ourselves. It was quite interesting. Recounting our holidays (for those who already went) and laughing about funny incidents.
Jean has been out early in the morning and back at around 8pm since we came back from our holiday. N.E.mation takes up so much time. They all flock to NTU where they trap themselves in a room with different "tents" assigned to their group. Inside their tents, they each sit around their tablet/desktop pc and do sketches of their animation/chat online/play/whatever. They're each given their own tablet or desktop thing with the stuff for drawing on the screen, and they're the administrator of the com, so they can download whatever they want. Jean says she drew over 1000 things already (I don't know what - it's a top secret). Apart from the high tech gadgets and meals, I think it's comparable to an air conditioned jail. Anyway, go vote http://www.nemation.sg/perspectives.aspx
byebyebye have violin lesson later
Saturday, November 22, 2008
blah x
There was tutti yesterday. I expected it to be uninteresting and as per normal. But Jie Ying never fails to stun me. I was listening to Mr Lee talking about something when suddenly, *crash**bang* (repeat a few more times with decrescendo). Then silence. I turned behind to where the sound was came from and saw Jie Ying's violin on the floor. Poor violin.. jy must have abused it too much so it decided to commit suicide.. Other than that, tutti was quite normal. Oh, except we listened to A-Roving and the Divertimento recordings. I'm still a bit addicted to O Waly Waly and A-Roving. John Rutter is a genius.
Doing violin practice after tutti or sectionals is really very productive. Because I'm slightly tired, I tend to play and practice better. I don't know why. The cadenza (by Franky I think) for the Mozart Violin Concerto is nice. But I think I'll need 2 weeks before I can play it smoothly. Jy and I tried out the thing today, but couldn't get past a few bars so ended up self-practicing. If I were to write the cadenza, I would put "pianist laughing solo, violin rest". Through playing this concerto, I think I've understood Classical concertos much better. Didn't know it in time for EOY but it's ok, there's still O levels. I also realised that Mozart has very unique musical characteristics that can be found in most of his pieces, like his rhythms. Ok enough about music for now.
My parents went out yesterday and since they were roaming around in orchard, I passed them a list of shoopping tasks to complete. It was 15% completed. They bought back a flat and short bar of chocolate from Marks & Spencers which I think wasn't even a bar by the time they reached home. It was more like chocolate syrup or those small little salad dressing packets. I froze it overnight in the freezer. When I went to check it this morning, I found it on the kitchen table, thawing, or I think melting. I picked it up and it curled over my finger. Looks like it's back to square one on freezing it.
Doing violin practice after tutti or sectionals is really very productive. Because I'm slightly tired, I tend to play and practice better. I don't know why. The cadenza (by Franky I think) for the Mozart Violin Concerto is nice. But I think I'll need 2 weeks before I can play it smoothly. Jy and I tried out the thing today, but couldn't get past a few bars so ended up self-practicing. If I were to write the cadenza, I would put "pianist laughing solo, violin rest". Through playing this concerto, I think I've understood Classical concertos much better. Didn't know it in time for EOY but it's ok, there's still O levels. I also realised that Mozart has very unique musical characteristics that can be found in most of his pieces, like his rhythms. Ok enough about music for now.
My parents went out yesterday and since they were roaming around in orchard, I passed them a list of shoopping tasks to complete. It was 15% completed. They bought back a flat and short bar of chocolate from Marks & Spencers which I think wasn't even a bar by the time they reached home. It was more like chocolate syrup or those small little salad dressing packets. I froze it overnight in the freezer. When I went to check it this morning, I found it on the kitchen table, thawing, or I think melting. I picked it up and it curled over my finger. Looks like it's back to square one on freezing it.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Tokyo and Hakone, Japan 2008
A brief comparison...
Jean fascinated by the sushis
A road for humans
A group of men/boys who performed some acrobatics for their photo-taking at the palace
The train and its commuters
Tokyo 2002 / Tokyo 2008
The rest are 2008...
Jean fascinated by the sushis
The sushis are not fascinated by Jean
A road for humans
At a road shoulder
Also at a road shoulder. No pausing while walking or you might get walked over
At the emperor's palace. Poor emperor... Stuck inside his whole life..
A group of men/boys who performed some acrobatics for their photo-taking at the palace
The train and its commuters
Jean stunned as she walks out of a handicap toilet in the train station and gets her picture taken (no, not the security camera)
The pink sign translated: "This carriage is for women only"... during peak hours
A successful jump shot initiated by Jean (the art of pushing the credit)
The crowd at Harajuku. Ren shan ren hai, shui xie bu tong...
The crowd at Harajuku. Ren shan ren hai, shui xie bu tong...
The Tokyo Tower at night. Dad spent some on a time on a roof top taking this shot and Jean and I were freezing. By the time he was done, mom disappeared - we found her later inside the building
Up in the clouds
Never judge an egg by it's shell
Camouflaging against the bush
Translated: Hakone pirate ship
Boarding the pirate ship
Our make-shift dinner in Hakone when all the shops outside were closed
Inside our room in Hakone. Lake Ashi in the background
Mount Fuji
Mount Fuji again...
A view of sulfur mining from the cable car. A great time to note that sulfur is yellow-green in colour
A night view of our final hotel in Tokyo
The fake volcano in DisneySEA with a roller coaster inside
DisneySEA.. The buildings in the background have flat surfaces. The old fashioned protruding-like structures are painted on
DisneySEA.. A christmas tree and the Tower of Terror (the plunge all the way down one...)
A picture taken during the Tower of Terror ride. Actually, taken from the TV screen of the thing for people to go purchase their photos (a great way to save money..). Spot me (no prizes for guessing)
Indiana Jones structure. The ride inside is not that shocking for old folks, but maybe of some advantage to them because they try to scare the visitors with very loud sounds while riding through the room
The highly disputed plant on the road side in DisneySEA because of it's authenticity. It is smooth and has a rubber like texture, quite hard, but it's surrounding plants are real (I think..). It's still not certain whether this is a plant or just a heap of plastic.
After the 360 degree roller coaster ride
On the chidrens' ride. No, I don't have a laughing disorder..
Inside the mermaid thing (I forgot what it was called)..
For more perspectives and photos, go to http://jean-the-gene.blogspot.com/ / Links --> Jean
And that sums up Tokyo 2008.
Tokyo - Day 7-8 + Singapore
Today, we went to Ueno. There was a park and I saw quite a number of school boys painting the scenery.We walked around the park and this street with a lot of small shops. There were studens shopping around and I don't know if they were supposed to be in school. I think the school hours are a bit odd. The things there were quite interesting, ranging from high tech robots/toys to food. There was this spider car thing which is a remote controlled car that can travel vertically on walls. It uses air suction I think. Japanese toys are really rather interesting.
We walked, ate lunch and shopped until about 1pm before taking a train back to our hotel. We caught the ariport limousine (a bus) and reached Narita airport. We left Tokyo at 5.40pm Tokyo time and reached Singapore at around 12.15am. I spent most of the ride watching movies and sleeping at the later part. But the sleeping was not very successful because I was getting tired from sitting for so long.
We reached home at about 1am and unpacked blah blah blah. I was in a groggy state and my eyes just wanted to close on me. I slept at about 3am+. 3/4 of my family woke up around 11.30am while Jean slept until 12+.
Overall, it was a pretty fun trip. And that ends all the Tokyo reports for now. Warning: Not all events had been typed out so as to avoid being naggy.
The long chain of November birthdays has just started today. Thankfully, we'll be settling it with two cakes over a period of 3 weeks. The first will be tomorrow at my grandparents' house. That one kills (celebrates) 3 birds (humans) with 1 stone (cake).
We walked, ate lunch and shopped until about 1pm before taking a train back to our hotel. We caught the ariport limousine (a bus) and reached Narita airport. We left Tokyo at 5.40pm Tokyo time and reached Singapore at around 12.15am. I spent most of the ride watching movies and sleeping at the later part. But the sleeping was not very successful because I was getting tired from sitting for so long.
We reached home at about 1am and unpacked blah blah blah. I was in a groggy state and my eyes just wanted to close on me. I slept at about 3am+. 3/4 of my family woke up around 11.30am while Jean slept until 12+.
Overall, it was a pretty fun trip. And that ends all the Tokyo reports for now. Warning: Not all events had been typed out so as to avoid being naggy.
The long chain of November birthdays has just started today. Thankfully, we'll be settling it with two cakes over a period of 3 weeks. The first will be tomorrow at my grandparents' house. That one kills (celebrates) 3 birds (humans) with 1 stone (cake).
Tokyo - Day 6
We woke up at around 7.30am Tokyo time and went out for breakfast. Then we took a train to Tokyo Disney Resort. We got slightly lost to transfer trains but after a while, we managed to navigate our way there.
There are 2 parks in Tokyo Disney Resort - Disneyland (for kids) and DisneySEA (for old people). We went to the one for the ageing/already aged people. I was eligible for all the rides and that was quite an achievement. The last time my family went to the Disney Resort in Orlando, US. That one had 5 parks and we used 2 days to play in 2 parks and still couldn't finish everything. That was when I wasn't aged yet, around 6-7 years old. But I couldn't make the height limit for most of the rides, so we had to go for the less thrilling ones. The first roller coaster ride I sat on was called Space Mountain. It was pitch dark all the way and there were plenty of ups and downs. I went on it with dad because Jean was not tall enough for it, so mom went with her on some tea cup ride. Now, back to Tokyo.
The first ride we went on was called Journey to the Centre of the Earth (edit), an indoor roller coaster. Whenever it suddenly plunged down, my stomach would feel funny. It was inside a fake volcano and was quite fun.
We went on another one, called Tower of Terror. We didn't know what to expect a first. I thought we would just ride in something and get scared nearly to death. But when we entered, hey strapped us up very securely and we knew that something was amiss. We went up, up, up... hen plunged all the way down. Then repeated the whole process a few times. I think everyone around us looked quite constipated while plunging down.
Jean forced me to go for a 360 degree turn ride with her. My parents told us to go first and then tell them if it was safe for them. I think we're their professional roller coaster guinea pigs. I protested all the way until we got into the car. Jean was practically laughing all the way. It was our first time going for such a ride. So we got on, I kept protesting bu it was too late, had to surrender. In the end, I survived the ride. It wasn't that bad and I barely felt myself going upside down. We reported our good news back to our base camp and dad decided to try out the ride. Jean and I went with him because we liked it so much. Mom was too scared and decided to stay out.
We completed all the main attractions by the afternoon and just walked around the place. We finally left DisneySEA at around 4.45pm. By then, the sky looked like Singapore's 7pm sky. Oh ya, we went for some boring rides after completing the main ones, We went to some mermaid roller coaster for kids and mom was screaming along with the other little children. The res of us were laughing throughout. Then a cup cake holder thing that kept spinning around, and we went up and down in some squid thing.
The Disney resort is a nice place and he helpers are quite friendly too. I wonder how they manage to remain extremely cheerful for so long. The attractions are nice but not very thrilling, because I think it's not meant to be an amusement park. I was quite fascinated with how they manage the sound systems inside. I think they just loop the music in the various scones but it is quite good. One day, I want to go to the Orlando Disney Resort again and try out the rides I wasn't tall enough for.
We took a train back and ate dinner around our area. jean got a headache and my dad says it is probably because of all the roller coasters, especially the 360 degree one. But Jean just keeps insisting it isn't. Ah well, if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have had such a great experience on that thing.
There are 2 parks in Tokyo Disney Resort - Disneyland (for kids) and DisneySEA (for old people). We went to the one for the ageing/already aged people. I was eligible for all the rides and that was quite an achievement. The last time my family went to the Disney Resort in Orlando, US. That one had 5 parks and we used 2 days to play in 2 parks and still couldn't finish everything. That was when I wasn't aged yet, around 6-7 years old. But I couldn't make the height limit for most of the rides, so we had to go for the less thrilling ones. The first roller coaster ride I sat on was called Space Mountain. It was pitch dark all the way and there were plenty of ups and downs. I went on it with dad because Jean was not tall enough for it, so mom went with her on some tea cup ride. Now, back to Tokyo.
The first ride we went on was called Journey to the Centre of the Earth (edit), an indoor roller coaster. Whenever it suddenly plunged down, my stomach would feel funny. It was inside a fake volcano and was quite fun.
We went on another one, called Tower of Terror. We didn't know what to expect a first. I thought we would just ride in something and get scared nearly to death. But when we entered, hey strapped us up very securely and we knew that something was amiss. We went up, up, up... hen plunged all the way down. Then repeated the whole process a few times. I think everyone around us looked quite constipated while plunging down.
Jean forced me to go for a 360 degree turn ride with her. My parents told us to go first and then tell them if it was safe for them. I think we're their professional roller coaster guinea pigs. I protested all the way until we got into the car. Jean was practically laughing all the way. It was our first time going for such a ride. So we got on, I kept protesting bu it was too late, had to surrender. In the end, I survived the ride. It wasn't that bad and I barely felt myself going upside down. We reported our good news back to our base camp and dad decided to try out the ride. Jean and I went with him because we liked it so much. Mom was too scared and decided to stay out.
We completed all the main attractions by the afternoon and just walked around the place. We finally left DisneySEA at around 4.45pm. By then, the sky looked like Singapore's 7pm sky. Oh ya, we went for some boring rides after completing the main ones, We went to some mermaid roller coaster for kids and mom was screaming along with the other little children. The res of us were laughing throughout. Then a cup cake holder thing that kept spinning around, and we went up and down in some squid thing.
The Disney resort is a nice place and he helpers are quite friendly too. I wonder how they manage to remain extremely cheerful for so long. The attractions are nice but not very thrilling, because I think it's not meant to be an amusement park. I was quite fascinated with how they manage the sound systems inside. I think they just loop the music in the various scones but it is quite good. One day, I want to go to the Orlando Disney Resort again and try out the rides I wasn't tall enough for.
We took a train back and ate dinner around our area. jean got a headache and my dad says it is probably because of all the roller coasters, especially the 360 degree one. But Jean just keeps insisting it isn't. Ah well, if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have had such a great experience on that thing.
Tokyo - Day 5 - Hakone-Tokyo
This was meant to be posted but there was no free internet connection.
From where I left off from my last post, we went out to look for dinner after mom and dad came back from their open air bath. We walked around the small town our hotel was in but all the shops were closed, so no dinner was sold. We went back to the hotel to look at the restaurants inside but their prices were astronomical. For example, S$75 for a buffet. In the end, we went back to our room and improvised a simple but good dinner with the things we happened to bring along. Problem solving skills came in handy when we realised we had no uensils or microwave. Well, this sort of family experience once in a while is not bad.
The next morning, we set off from Hakone to go ack to Tokyo. It was cold in Hakone (5-6 degrees celsius + autumn wear). We took a shuttle bus servic to Togendai (cable car sation) and ate breakfast at a restaurant there (the jingle bell one). After that, we took the cable car to the 1044m point and climbed our way to the sulfur egg thing. We ate the sulfur egg again for part II of breakfast because it was nice. The sky was very nice and clear early thi morning so we could see Mt Fuji very clearly. Back to temperature, it was so cold my cheeks were dry and my ears felt like letting go of my head.
Next, we took a train diagonally downwards a few hundred meters. We arrived at Gora and took a walk around there. We bought some ice cream and took a walk around the park. I was only half done by the time we finished the walk and the thing hardly melted. My hand was nearly frozen ino the shape of the cone when I was finally done. They were so numb I couldn't feel the cold anymore.
Then, we took a mountain slow rain to the main train station to go back to Tokyo. Most of the people in Hakone were old folks (aged people), and a few tourists. At this point, I find it necessary to emphasize that I was in the category - tourists.
At bout 4pm, Tokyo time, Japanese students started entering the train. I'm very amazed with the uniform, especially the girls. The older ones have extremely short skirts and almost knee length socks, and a coat. The crucial question is, how do they manage to survive the cold? And the more senior girls'hairstyles are quite artistic. I think if Singapores' discipline masters/mistresses see this, they would probably give a double dosage of the haircut service.
We arrived at Shinjuku, picked up our luggage and took a train to Akasaka-Mitsuke where our current hotel, Gand Prince Hotel, is. I think there's a girls' school nearby. We was a lot of girls in he station. There was this group of senior girls near us. When some juniors walked past, they would repeaedly bow to them and chant something as they walked past. Interesting custom.
After checking in, we took a train to Takashimaya. It was quite big and is probably the Taka headquarter. Bought back dinner ecause we wanted to try the vrious types of ready-made food. Then we ate dinner in my parents' room, followed by some fruit murdered by dad's swiss knife. Oh, one of the pears tasted of rum. I hope I don't get a hangover tomorrow. There was also this weird tasting fruit that wasted a lot of my effort trying to accept it's weird taste.
Compared to Hakone, Tokyo (10+ degrees celsius) is really hot. I was persiring slightly when we arrived and he weather seemed just nice, like a giant, outdoor air conditioned shopping centre.
Ienary for tomorrow:
- Wake up early to go to Disney Resort.
From where I left off from my last post, we went out to look for dinner after mom and dad came back from their open air bath. We walked around the small town our hotel was in but all the shops were closed, so no dinner was sold. We went back to the hotel to look at the restaurants inside but their prices were astronomical. For example, S$75 for a buffet. In the end, we went back to our room and improvised a simple but good dinner with the things we happened to bring along. Problem solving skills came in handy when we realised we had no uensils or microwave. Well, this sort of family experience once in a while is not bad.
The next morning, we set off from Hakone to go ack to Tokyo. It was cold in Hakone (5-6 degrees celsius + autumn wear). We took a shuttle bus servic to Togendai (cable car sation) and ate breakfast at a restaurant there (the jingle bell one). After that, we took the cable car to the 1044m point and climbed our way to the sulfur egg thing. We ate the sulfur egg again for part II of breakfast because it was nice. The sky was very nice and clear early thi morning so we could see Mt Fuji very clearly. Back to temperature, it was so cold my cheeks were dry and my ears felt like letting go of my head.
Next, we took a train diagonally downwards a few hundred meters. We arrived at Gora and took a walk around there. We bought some ice cream and took a walk around the park. I was only half done by the time we finished the walk and the thing hardly melted. My hand was nearly frozen ino the shape of the cone when I was finally done. They were so numb I couldn't feel the cold anymore.
Then, we took a mountain slow rain to the main train station to go back to Tokyo. Most of the people in Hakone were old folks (aged people), and a few tourists. At this point, I find it necessary to emphasize that I was in the category - tourists.
At bout 4pm, Tokyo time, Japanese students started entering the train. I'm very amazed with the uniform, especially the girls. The older ones have extremely short skirts and almost knee length socks, and a coat. The crucial question is, how do they manage to survive the cold? And the more senior girls'hairstyles are quite artistic. I think if Singapores' discipline masters/mistresses see this, they would probably give a double dosage of the haircut service.
We arrived at Shinjuku, picked up our luggage and took a train to Akasaka-Mitsuke where our current hotel, Gand Prince Hotel, is. I think there's a girls' school nearby. We was a lot of girls in he station. There was this group of senior girls near us. When some juniors walked past, they would repeaedly bow to them and chant something as they walked past. Interesting custom.
After checking in, we took a train to Takashimaya. It was quite big and is probably the Taka headquarter. Bought back dinner ecause we wanted to try the vrious types of ready-made food. Then we ate dinner in my parents' room, followed by some fruit murdered by dad's swiss knife. Oh, one of the pears tasted of rum. I hope I don't get a hangover tomorrow. There was also this weird tasting fruit that wasted a lot of my effort trying to accept it's weird taste.
Compared to Hakone, Tokyo (10+ degrees celsius) is really hot. I was persiring slightly when we arrived and he weather seemed just nice, like a giant, outdoor air conditioned shopping centre.
Ienary for tomorrow:
- Wake up early to go to Disney Resort.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Tokyo - Day 4 - Hakone
Today, we woke up at 6am. We were supposed to wake up half an hour earlier but failed to. Jean pick up the phone, mumbled something and went back to sleep without telling me. We ate a quick breakfast and checked out. We packed 1 night's clothes into 2 smaller luggage and deposited the rest in the hotel. Then, we walked to Shinjuku station to board a train to Hakone. It was a 1 hour 50 minute ride and I slept most of the time.
After we reached, we changed to another train that would continue to take us to Hakone.It was smaller and went quite slowly through the winding and inclined track. he, we transferred to a rail that went diagonally upwards, straight up the mountain. We then arrived at Gora, which is 761m above sea level. We reached a cable car station. We took a cable car to Owakudani, 1044m above sea level. It was quite cold there, about 5 degrees celsius. There were geysers on the top and we went to walk around there. It smelled of rotten eggs because of the sulfur. But the smelliest geysers, to me, are the ones in Yellowstone Park (somewhere near the Gran Canyon). Near one of the geysers, there was a stall selling eggs that had been cooked in the geyser. We bought 1 packet (5 eggs) and ate them. They had black shells and looked horribly burn at first. But, never judge an egg by it's shell. The inside was good and it helped to warm our hands. Oh, it was really cold because we were dressed in clothes more suitable for 10+ degrees. But the temperature in Hanoke is almost always below 10, so pockets have become the hand's permanent residence.
After that, we went down by cable car. This time, the clouds had cleared and visibility was much better. The leaves were very colourful from on top. Then, we ate lunch. It's very high-tech. First, you go order the food at the counter. Then, go back to sit. When your food is ready, the electronic thing you are given beeps. No, not beep, it's the first bar of "Jingle Bells" theme over and over again. After eating, we out back the plates and trays etc. Highly unusual since the typical Singaporean is only required to on school grounds. Then, there's a cloth on the table so you can clean it yourself. Japanese are so responsible. Oh ya, there are hardly any trash bins around, but the ground is always very clean. Singapore has trash bins all over, and it's clean, just that we need a lot of cleaners. And the rare trash bins in Japan are usually quite tiny and specialised in a certain material (paper, plastic, cans, jie ying...).
Then, we took a cruise to a part of Hakone. Hakone is actually what's left of a volcano that blew it's top many years ago. There's a lake in the centre (Lake Ashi) and the surrounding "mountains" are the crater stuff. Before we boarded the cruise, there was this sign which read "Attention: I can not use one equal to or less than 8 years old or younger or 25kg". It was very cold and windy on the boat. Dad, Jean and I purposely went to the top deck to look out for Mt. Fuji. We managed to catch a bit of it. Then we went into this shop and I nearly died of laughing. On some of the display things:
1. I stewed the body and the egg of the fish.
I stewed the egg of the fish of a feeling of appetite which split open and the body of a soft tuna together. I am most suitable for an attendant of the rice.
Poor fish...
2. A Tuna and Cheese
I stewed wat tuna and cheese to chunks. Body of the cheese matches the taste of the tuna well.
3. Cheese and Bonito
I skewed the Bonito which did smoking with soy sauce. It is the delicious Bonito which it put melted cheese on.
4. The Egg of the Shihamo Smelt
It is an egg and the cheese of the Shihamo smelt of a feeling of appetite splitting open. The sharp taste that I worked for a little is characteristic.
Then we took a short cruise ride to our hotel (The Prince Hakone). We checked in. This time, we are stying in a family suite. We took a walk outside and there's a very good view of Mount Fuji. Right now, I'm typing this and my parents are out at a hot spring bath downstairs. I decided I didn't want to go because it's just off my Conservative limits.
Tomorrow:
Go back to main city, walk around and explore.
After we reached, we changed to another train that would continue to take us to Hakone.It was smaller and went quite slowly through the winding and inclined track. he, we transferred to a rail that went diagonally upwards, straight up the mountain. We then arrived at Gora, which is 761m above sea level. We reached a cable car station. We took a cable car to Owakudani, 1044m above sea level. It was quite cold there, about 5 degrees celsius. There were geysers on the top and we went to walk around there. It smelled of rotten eggs because of the sulfur. But the smelliest geysers, to me, are the ones in Yellowstone Park (somewhere near the Gran Canyon). Near one of the geysers, there was a stall selling eggs that had been cooked in the geyser. We bought 1 packet (5 eggs) and ate them. They had black shells and looked horribly burn at first. But, never judge an egg by it's shell. The inside was good and it helped to warm our hands. Oh, it was really cold because we were dressed in clothes more suitable for 10+ degrees. But the temperature in Hanoke is almost always below 10, so pockets have become the hand's permanent residence.
After that, we went down by cable car. This time, the clouds had cleared and visibility was much better. The leaves were very colourful from on top. Then, we ate lunch. It's very high-tech. First, you go order the food at the counter. Then, go back to sit. When your food is ready, the electronic thing you are given beeps. No, not beep, it's the first bar of "Jingle Bells" theme over and over again. After eating, we out back the plates and trays etc. Highly unusual since the typical Singaporean is only required to on school grounds. Then, there's a cloth on the table so you can clean it yourself. Japanese are so responsible. Oh ya, there are hardly any trash bins around, but the ground is always very clean. Singapore has trash bins all over, and it's clean, just that we need a lot of cleaners. And the rare trash bins in Japan are usually quite tiny and specialised in a certain material (paper, plastic, cans, jie ying...).
Then, we took a cruise to a part of Hakone. Hakone is actually what's left of a volcano that blew it's top many years ago. There's a lake in the centre (Lake Ashi) and the surrounding "mountains" are the crater stuff. Before we boarded the cruise, there was this sign which read "Attention: I can not use one equal to or less than 8 years old or younger or 25kg". It was very cold and windy on the boat. Dad, Jean and I purposely went to the top deck to look out for Mt. Fuji. We managed to catch a bit of it. Then we went into this shop and I nearly died of laughing. On some of the display things:
1. I stewed the body and the egg of the fish.
I stewed the egg of the fish of a feeling of appetite which split open and the body of a soft tuna together. I am most suitable for an attendant of the rice.
Poor fish...
2. A Tuna and Cheese
I stewed wat tuna and cheese to chunks. Body of the cheese matches the taste of the tuna well.
3. Cheese and Bonito
I skewed the Bonito which did smoking with soy sauce. It is the delicious Bonito which it put melted cheese on.
4. The Egg of the Shihamo Smelt
It is an egg and the cheese of the Shihamo smelt of a feeling of appetite splitting open. The sharp taste that I worked for a little is characteristic.
Then we took a short cruise ride to our hotel (The Prince Hakone). We checked in. This time, we are stying in a family suite. We took a walk outside and there's a very good view of Mount Fuji. Right now, I'm typing this and my parents are out at a hot spring bath downstairs. I decided I didn't want to go because it's just off my Conservative limits.
Tomorrow:
Go back to main city, walk around and explore.
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Tokyo - Day 3
Today, the temperature was 9-13 degrees celsius. Bearable but not very comfortble. The Japanese don't wear gloves and my fingers are always freezing. Towards the end of the day, my hand is grdually stuck permanantly in my pocket. It rained lightly and I felt very happy because had an umbrella imported all the way from singapore with me. Well, it is actually quite a hard decision - whether or not to use the umbrella. If it is used, then the hand can't be in the pocket. But if it isn't used, we get wet and it makes us feel even colder. I think I was unofficially awarded the title of being the best dressed for the occasion. At least I wore a waterproof jacket.
Jean and I got a wake up call from our parents in the morning. Poor Jean.. She decided to sleep on the side of the bed with the phone. Then, went over to their room to eat breakfast. We went out and spent 45 minutes trying to find our way to the correct platform in the big underground train network. It is so complicated as there are 9 companies, and you have to buy different tickets for different lines. We finally found it after asking around, walking in and out. We went to the Yasukuni shrine. That's the shrine that the Jap PM visits every year and causes a lot of protest. Then, we went to Kitanmaru Park. By then, we were quite tired from the walking. I was wearing track shoes which made my feet cold whenever wind blowed. In addition, my socks were thin. It was then an there that Jean admitted she accidentally packed 1 pair of socks which was unevenly matched - 1 thick and the other side thin. So in total, she had three thick socks and 3 thin socks. She was working out her own schedule on how to evenly spread out the use of the socks over the next few days. When we walked out, there was this washing basin. Supposed to be for cleansing before you go in. Then my mom thought it was like a hospital and thought it was nice idea to have a washing point there before leaving the place. Ha.. sigh
Then, we went to Harajuku. It is described by Formers Japan (travel guide), "If you're over 25, you're apt to feel ancient there, since this is tokyo's most popular and trendy place for Japanese high school and college students." Ahaha.. I wonder how my parents felt. The Japanese there really have an interesting sense of fashion. For the past 2 days, I thoght that what I had been seeing was already unusual eough. But when I saw the people walking around Harajuku, they definitely win the title of being the most unconventional. They have unique ways of expresing thmeselcves, dressing all in black and with weird punk styles. There were also some oddly dressed people holding signs "free hugs". I don't think anyone dared to go to them..
Then, we walked past a stadium. There was going to be a band's debut concert going on. I think the band's name is "A B C-Z kis my ft2". I have no idea what could have inspired them except the alphabet. There were a lot of people. The whole street in the Harajuku was practically jammed with people. Shui ie bu tong and ren shan ren hai. There were many funky people waiting outside the indoor stadium (oh ya, the 1964 olymics was held there) and most of them were girls.
Then, we walked to the Meiji Shrine. It was my second time there and I don't think it has changed much since 6 years ago. At this time of the year, Japanese kids aged 3, 5 nd 7 come with their famalies to recieve blessings. Sx years ago, I think we went to this shrine on 15 Nov, Jean's 8th birthday. Not for any particular purpose except sight seeing, but we found the event rather interesting. Then around 5pm, they began closing the place. Since the shrine was a one way type of road, we walked through the track and was already nearly finishing it. Then, suddenly, the intercom said, "Every entrnce has just been closed. Please hurry back now." In that case, wouldn't we be locked in till tomorrow? Inthe end, like everyone else who listened to the english version, we ignored it and got out safely.
Then, walked somemore and went back to Shinjuku and ate dinner there. It quite cold. Oh and there's this big Daikin advertisment board on top of a building tht gives the temperature. How suitable since it's an air conditioner brand.
Took a shower, went to my parents room again and used dad's laptop. We ate fruit which dad cut up using his swiss knife. Then, family prayer.
Going to sleep now. Have t wake up by 5am tomorrow tokyo time. We'll be checking out of the hotel and then taking the train to Hanoke to look at Mt Fuji. Unsure about internet connection there. That's all now, good night.
Jean and I got a wake up call from our parents in the morning. Poor Jean.. She decided to sleep on the side of the bed with the phone. Then, went over to their room to eat breakfast. We went out and spent 45 minutes trying to find our way to the correct platform in the big underground train network. It is so complicated as there are 9 companies, and you have to buy different tickets for different lines. We finally found it after asking around, walking in and out. We went to the Yasukuni shrine. That's the shrine that the Jap PM visits every year and causes a lot of protest. Then, we went to Kitanmaru Park. By then, we were quite tired from the walking. I was wearing track shoes which made my feet cold whenever wind blowed. In addition, my socks were thin. It was then an there that Jean admitted she accidentally packed 1 pair of socks which was unevenly matched - 1 thick and the other side thin. So in total, she had three thick socks and 3 thin socks. She was working out her own schedule on how to evenly spread out the use of the socks over the next few days. When we walked out, there was this washing basin. Supposed to be for cleansing before you go in. Then my mom thought it was like a hospital and thought it was nice idea to have a washing point there before leaving the place. Ha.. sigh
Then, we went to Harajuku. It is described by Formers Japan (travel guide), "If you're over 25, you're apt to feel ancient there, since this is tokyo's most popular and trendy place for Japanese high school and college students." Ahaha.. I wonder how my parents felt. The Japanese there really have an interesting sense of fashion. For the past 2 days, I thoght that what I had been seeing was already unusual eough. But when I saw the people walking around Harajuku, they definitely win the title of being the most unconventional. They have unique ways of expresing thmeselcves, dressing all in black and with weird punk styles. There were also some oddly dressed people holding signs "free hugs". I don't think anyone dared to go to them..
Then, we walked past a stadium. There was going to be a band's debut concert going on. I think the band's name is "A B C-Z kis my ft2". I have no idea what could have inspired them except the alphabet. There were a lot of people. The whole street in the Harajuku was practically jammed with people. Shui ie bu tong and ren shan ren hai. There were many funky people waiting outside the indoor stadium (oh ya, the 1964 olymics was held there) and most of them were girls.
Then, we walked to the Meiji Shrine. It was my second time there and I don't think it has changed much since 6 years ago. At this time of the year, Japanese kids aged 3, 5 nd 7 come with their famalies to recieve blessings. Sx years ago, I think we went to this shrine on 15 Nov, Jean's 8th birthday. Not for any particular purpose except sight seeing, but we found the event rather interesting. Then around 5pm, they began closing the place. Since the shrine was a one way type of road, we walked through the track and was already nearly finishing it. Then, suddenly, the intercom said, "Every entrnce has just been closed. Please hurry back now." In that case, wouldn't we be locked in till tomorrow? Inthe end, like everyone else who listened to the english version, we ignored it and got out safely.
Then, walked somemore and went back to Shinjuku and ate dinner there. It quite cold. Oh and there's this big Daikin advertisment board on top of a building tht gives the temperature. How suitable since it's an air conditioner brand.
Took a shower, went to my parents room again and used dad's laptop. We ate fruit which dad cut up using his swiss knife. Then, family prayer.
Going to sleep now. Have t wake up by 5am tomorrow tokyo time. We'll be checking out of the hotel and then taking the train to Hanoke to look at Mt Fuji. Unsure about internet connection there. That's all now, good night.
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Tokyo - Day 2
Today, I woke up at 8.30 Tokyo time. Thankfully, we didn't go to the seafood market at 3am to catch the market action. We took a train to the seafood market. We went there the last time but went again to eat there. We went to this shop that sold sushi with those raw seafood things on top. I tried to ignore the dead toppings and decided to try 2 of what I thought were the most harmless sushis. The first was this one with raw fish egg. I t tasted so different from the ones in Singapore. It tasted so fishy and smelt fishy as well. There was this slimy taste that lingered in my mouth and I couldn't bear to swallow it. But I eventually did. I thought that was the fish egg's fault and decided to try raw prawn next. I thought it would taste close to the normal version but it had this gooey effect, and not to mention, there was wasabe hidden in it. So I had a hard time chewing it into swallowable portions while trying to survive without having to activate a fire truck.
After roaming around for a while more, we took a train to Ginza. It's like the orchard road of Singapore. Mom just reminded me she bought some stockings there and commented on my poor memory. While she was busy shopping, dad, jean and I sat at a corner and waited. Then, jean and I initiated a game of UNO with dad. I won and Jean and dad never got to finish because they took a very very long time. Well, at least dad learnt something new today.
Then, we walked to the Imperial Palace. We could only stay at the outside. It's only open to visitor a few days a year. After that, we walked to a train station and went to Asakusa (I can never remember this name. I tried to memorise the spelling but got it wrong when I decided to double check with mom) This place is also a shopping district. We walked and walked and walked. Now, what did we do? (Now - I asked my mom for inspiration and she must be thinking her poor daughter is catching up with her age) Ah, now, we walked around the small shops and tried different types of food. We also bought some stuff. It was also realised that we tend to attract crowds to wherever we are. 4 people stopping at a particular spot is enough to attract about 5 more. Dad was saying the shops should have given us commission. Haven't tried the pointing at something prank yet. By theory, passers by /should/ have the urge to look up.
Then, we ate dinner and went to a grocery store. We bought some food to bring back for breakfast tomorrow, as well as fruit. Then, we saw some relatively cheap ice cream and decided to buy some. At first, we wanted the mini-tub type, but then we realised we didn't have any spoons, and the store didn't sell any. So, Jean and I decided on a wafer one instead while mom and dad took a green tea cup of ice ream. Dad said he bought the ice cream before and so he was quite sure there would be a spoon inside to facilitate eating. So, e went out and started our dessert. While we were opening up our packages, suddenly, there was a state of panic. Dad discovered that there was no spoon inside. The ice cream was going to melt, but maybe not as fast since the temperature was about 12 degrees. We all decided it was a major problem and started looking for a 100yen shop (S$1.50). Well, in the end, we managed to find one. Dad went in to search while the rest of us kept the ice creams company. I was thinking my parents would probably have to end up using some funny plastic structure to eat. Thankfully, dad found a packet of forks. Ah well, it's not a traditional way of eating it but anyway, good enough since most of the ice cream was not Green tea soup yet.
After that, we lugged the stuff home. After carrying my bag to walk around, 10 hours, 1 carton of orange juice and 2 packets of milk, my shoulders couldn't move up. It feel so stiff now..
Then, took a shower, and went over to my parents' room to use the laptop (yes, under parental supervivion). It'ss 12.30am (tokyo time) now. So good morning tokyo, good night singapore.
tomorrow's itenary:
not confirmed yet. dad is still reading the map.. but night activity is confirmed - computer time.
After roaming around for a while more, we took a train to Ginza. It's like the orchard road of Singapore. Mom just reminded me she bought some stockings there and commented on my poor memory. While she was busy shopping, dad, jean and I sat at a corner and waited. Then, jean and I initiated a game of UNO with dad. I won and Jean and dad never got to finish because they took a very very long time. Well, at least dad learnt something new today.
Then, we walked to the Imperial Palace. We could only stay at the outside. It's only open to visitor a few days a year. After that, we walked to a train station and went to Asakusa (I can never remember this name. I tried to memorise the spelling but got it wrong when I decided to double check with mom) This place is also a shopping district. We walked and walked and walked. Now, what did we do? (Now - I asked my mom for inspiration and she must be thinking her poor daughter is catching up with her age) Ah, now, we walked around the small shops and tried different types of food. We also bought some stuff. It was also realised that we tend to attract crowds to wherever we are. 4 people stopping at a particular spot is enough to attract about 5 more. Dad was saying the shops should have given us commission. Haven't tried the pointing at something prank yet. By theory, passers by /should/ have the urge to look up.
Then, we ate dinner and went to a grocery store. We bought some food to bring back for breakfast tomorrow, as well as fruit. Then, we saw some relatively cheap ice cream and decided to buy some. At first, we wanted the mini-tub type, but then we realised we didn't have any spoons, and the store didn't sell any. So, Jean and I decided on a wafer one instead while mom and dad took a green tea cup of ice ream. Dad said he bought the ice cream before and so he was quite sure there would be a spoon inside to facilitate eating. So, e went out and started our dessert. While we were opening up our packages, suddenly, there was a state of panic. Dad discovered that there was no spoon inside. The ice cream was going to melt, but maybe not as fast since the temperature was about 12 degrees. We all decided it was a major problem and started looking for a 100yen shop (S$1.50). Well, in the end, we managed to find one. Dad went in to search while the rest of us kept the ice creams company. I was thinking my parents would probably have to end up using some funny plastic structure to eat. Thankfully, dad found a packet of forks. Ah well, it's not a traditional way of eating it but anyway, good enough since most of the ice cream was not Green tea soup yet.
After that, we lugged the stuff home. After carrying my bag to walk around, 10 hours, 1 carton of orange juice and 2 packets of milk, my shoulders couldn't move up. It feel so stiff now..
Then, took a shower, and went over to my parents' room to use the laptop (yes, under parental supervivion). It'ss 12.30am (tokyo time) now. So good morning tokyo, good night singapore.
tomorrow's itenary:
not confirmed yet. dad is still reading the map.. but night activity is confirmed - computer time.
Friday, November 07, 2008
Tokyo - Day 1
Today (7 Nov in Singapore, it's early 8 nov in tokyo now), I woke up at 4.50am. I didn't really know what time the flight to tokyo was but I just got a shock. We left the house and reached the airport T3 at about 6am. We took off at 7.30am and reached tokyo at about 2pm. All the times I'm going to use, unless otherwise stated will be Singapore time. Tokyo time is 1 hour ahead of Sg.
When we arrived, we took an "airport limousine" to our hotel in Shinjuku. I think it's a shopping and business district like Singapore's CBD area. The English they try to use here is really funny. When we were on the way to the hotel, the person in charge of the bus intercom said something like, "For those who are alighting, please ensure that you leave your luggage behind before alghiting." Jean and I had trouble laughing silently. I think the Japanese around us must have thought we were a few odd foreigners.
Oh ya, we didn't eat lunch, just breakfast on the plane, then dinner at around 6 (tokyo time). The sun here sets at 5 (tokyo time). The streets at the shopping district hve only one lane - for pedestrians. There's even a road shoulder for slower (ageing) walkers like me. The people there are dressed very very formally. The men are almost all in a black suit, white collar shirt and tie. The women are also almost all black with tockings an skirts. When you look at a group of eople, they look like MIB (men in black). There are, of course, a few exceptions like the 4 of my family. The people walk so fast you can easily be collided into. It's like driving a car. I think I need a rear mirror. Once I slow down or stop, I happen to block a whole troop of people behind me.
The temperature today was 20 degrees celsius in the day ad about 17-18 degrees celsius in the night. At night, it was colder with wind chill. I think the weather is going to get colder these few days. Rght now, tokyo seems like a gigantic shopping centre with air conditioning.
Now is about 1.15am tokyo time. Using my dad's laptop to type as there's free internet connection but no free com. The keyboard is super tiny and my fingers keep hitting the wrong keys. Can't aim properly when y eye's are going to close after about 20 hours nonstop. Please excuse any typos..
Rought Itenary (6 nights, 7 days):
First 3 nights: Shopping district
Next 1 night: Visit an rea near Mount Fuji where we'll look at mont fuji but not climb it.
Next 2 nights: Go back to city area, disneyland on last day.
I think I'll only be able to have internet connection for 1st three nights. Next few not so sure as we'll be swtching hotels according to location. Mom is thinking of visiting the fish market at 3am.. that's like a sort nap from now. I hope not..
When we arrived, we took an "airport limousine" to our hotel in Shinjuku. I think it's a shopping and business district like Singapore's CBD area. The English they try to use here is really funny. When we were on the way to the hotel, the person in charge of the bus intercom said something like, "For those who are alighting, please ensure that you leave your luggage behind before alghiting." Jean and I had trouble laughing silently. I think the Japanese around us must have thought we were a few odd foreigners.
Oh ya, we didn't eat lunch, just breakfast on the plane, then dinner at around 6 (tokyo time). The sun here sets at 5 (tokyo time). The streets at the shopping district hve only one lane - for pedestrians. There's even a road shoulder for slower (ageing) walkers like me. The people there are dressed very very formally. The men are almost all in a black suit, white collar shirt and tie. The women are also almost all black with tockings an skirts. When you look at a group of eople, they look like MIB (men in black). There are, of course, a few exceptions like the 4 of my family. The people walk so fast you can easily be collided into. It's like driving a car. I think I need a rear mirror. Once I slow down or stop, I happen to block a whole troop of people behind me.
The temperature today was 20 degrees celsius in the day ad about 17-18 degrees celsius in the night. At night, it was colder with wind chill. I think the weather is going to get colder these few days. Rght now, tokyo seems like a gigantic shopping centre with air conditioning.
Now is about 1.15am tokyo time. Using my dad's laptop to type as there's free internet connection but no free com. The keyboard is super tiny and my fingers keep hitting the wrong keys. Can't aim properly when y eye's are going to close after about 20 hours nonstop. Please excuse any typos..
Rought Itenary (6 nights, 7 days):
First 3 nights: Shopping district
Next 1 night: Visit an rea near Mount Fuji where we'll look at mont fuji but not climb it.
Next 2 nights: Go back to city area, disneyland on last day.
I think I'll only be able to have internet connection for 1st three nights. Next few not so sure as we'll be swtching hotels according to location. Mom is thinking of visiting the fish market at 3am.. that's like a sort nap from now. I hope not..
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